


Fauna of an Arcana

by orphan_account



Category: Persona 3, Persona 4, Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Crossover, F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, One Shot Collection, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-25
Updated: 2017-06-24
Packaged: 2018-11-18 17:10:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11295051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: A one shot collection of the 20 major arcana. What happens when these people escape the confines of their own game and interact with one another?Shenanigans probably idk





	1. Vanguard of the Lunch Money Revolution

**Author's Note:**

> Hi all, I've never done shorter one shots before (I haven't actually done anything other than a long one shot before, admittedly) and I wanted to try this out. With persona 5 out, there are at least two living people(or dogs/foxes) for each arcana, so I wonder how they'd interact. Also, P3P has the superior social links so I'm using that. If I had to use the food guy or Kenji I'd probably claw my eyes out??? This roughly takes place a month or two after P5.

“Let the kid go, asshole!”

Ryuji, on the way back from the gym, found some shithead teenager bugging a little kid for money. Obviously with Mementos gone, they couldn't change any more hearts the easy way, which left the hard way.

The hard way being his fist, of course.

“Oh yeah? Some stupid 2nd year is going to try and fight me? I'm a classically trained boxer, you know.” The teen gloated, flexing his large muscles, “no way you're gonna win.”

“I've trained under a boxer too, and he's, like, 10 times the man you are!” A perky voice called from behind him, and he turns around and sees a girl in a stance that he recognizes from the Trial of the Dragon series.

The girl looks like she can fight, though, so he smiles and says “Let's get this idiot!”

He rushes towards the teen, arm cocked back, ready for a fist to the face. The girl recognizes this and runs towards him, ready to kick low. It’s almost like they’ve been fighting together for years instead of just meeting each other for the first time.

The teen blocks his punch, but the girl's leg sweep catches him off guard, and he falls to the ground heavily. He starts getting up, but Ryuji pins him down instead, grinning harshly. The girl towers over them both, looking as mean as she can… Which isn’t much, but she does look like she wants to kick him again.

 

“Now, let this be a lesson to you; stick to fighting in the ring, instead of bullying kids for money. Not that I think you could ever make it as a boxer, but hey, it’s a free country.” Ryuji shakes his head fondly, he turns to the girl and says, “You got anything to say?”

“Nope, you pretty much covered it.” The girls says, smiling at the kid and asks, “Did he take any money from you yet?” When the kid shakes his head, she says, “Okay, let’s let him up. He should know by now that if he tries this again, he’s getting kicked in the face.” She smiles evilly and lifts her sneakers, “and I have much more damaging shoes than this one.”

The kid runs off, and when Ryuji lets the guy up he runs in the opposite direction. He rolls his shoulders in anticipation, “Thanks for the help, the guy looked like he could do some serious damage if I was fighting him alone.” He knows he’d have won, but he might have some bruises to show for it.

The girl smiles perkily, “I’m a Warrior of Justice! I’m also training to be a police officer, but… I’m still in training.”

“Wow, that’s super cool!” He exclaims, “one of my friends is going to school to become a police commissioner, actually, but she hasn’t graduated yet.” He hits his forehead in annoyance, “I should probably introduce myself, huh? The name’s Ryuji Sakamoto.”

“Chie Satonaka.” The girl looks interested in his name and asks, “Do you happen to know some guy named Akira?”

Ryuji blushes a little when he says, “Yeah, we… uh, know each other. Why?” He’s slightly suspicious, like she knows Akira was in jail and then got out mysteriously, but there’s something about the girl that makes her seem extremely trustworthy. Maybe the genial smile, maybe her silly pins on her tank top… or maybe something he can’t see.

“Oh, uh, no reason. One of my friends talked about him a lot, is all.” Is all Chie says, and he sighs in annoyance. It stands to reason that as a police trainee, she would know someone who would know he was in jail, and Akira was such an amazing person so people talked about him a lot. There was no reason to be suspicious.

Still, he wanted to talk to this girl more, and he was delighted when she asked him if he wanted to get some food.

“Hell yeah! Nothing like a good meal to celebrate kicking ass!” He pumps his arm as he shouts.

Chie smiles knowingly, “Don’t I know it!” She jumps in excitement, “Let’s get food fit for warriors!”

\------

She decided to take him to the beef bowl place, to learn what kind of guy he was. She knew there was something about him that was… familar in some way, so she suspected he was part of the Phantom Thieves, but she only met one of the other Phantom Thieves once, and she didn’t have that air of familiarity.

(Though she did remind her of Yukiko for some odd reason… and it definitely wasn’t because the girl was hot. Nope.)

His eyes lit up when she brought him here, “I haven’t been here in forever! Not since… Akira left.” His eyes then fell back down to his shoes.

She saw something familiar in that expression and she smiles ruefully,“Hey, don’t worry. He’s still your friend, right? I used to live in a small town called Inaba,” His eyes flash a little in recognition and she wonders about that, “The one friend who brought us all together moved back here in our second year, and we were sad, but he made sure to visit us all the time, keep in touch.” She smiles in recognition, “Even now, not all of us are here in Tokyo, but he makes time for all of us.”

“Well, he is coming back in the summer…” Ryuji says quietly, “I, I don’t know. I just miss him, is all.” He frowns sadly, and all of the sudden she can tell why he’s so sad. She didn’t know very much about Akira, other than he was the leader of a group of teenagers using persona much like Yu was, and that definitely didn’t cover sexual orientation. Hopefully she’s reading this right, but maybe they’re more alike than they both realize?

She decides to get it out of the way and bowl forward awkwardly, as is her way, and says, “Sorry, I really like talking with you, but I have to make sure I’m home before 5, because my girlfriend is getting home from school then.”

Ryuji instantly knows what she’s trying to say, and is encouraged by the ease of which she says it and responds a little quieter, “Huh, yeah… Akira was only my boyfriend for two months before he had to leave, but I miss him so much now. We talk every day, pretty much, but I still wish he were here, you know?”

“I know the feeling.” She says, and wants to continue, but their orders have finished, so they both nod and stick to eating.

He’s eating slightly faster than her current speed, which is inspiring her to go faster. They both decided in that same instant to race, and they go even faster, each of them spurring on the other to finish.

Miraculously, they both finish at the same time, and they both smile at each other with understanding. She feels like he knows why she invited him, and knows more about what happened in Inaba than they wanted the Phantom Thieves to know… but surely she can trust him, right? For some reason, he feels like a cousin that she just found, or a long lost brother…

He doesn’t talk about any of that, but pulls out his phone and grins, “Hey, wanna exchange numbers? Who knows when I’ll need help from the best cop in Japan... Well, I guess you’re not a cop yet, but when you do I feel like you’ll be one of the ones who helps as many people as she can, because she wants to.”

She smiles happily and asks, “I think you’d be an amazing cop yourself. Not trying to force you to, but the world will always need warriors of justice!”

He looks both pleased and a little hesitant, “Maybe… I’m not honestly sure. Could I maybe contact you later, ask you more about it?”

“Sure!” She exclaims, “Actually, I did have one more question before i have to go. Would you be interested in sparring with me? My current sparring partner is really busy and will be for a while, so I’ve been looking for a new one.”

Ryuji grins, flexes his muscles and says, “You’re going down, Chie. Mark my words!”

She leaves him and as soon as she’s out of earshot, she starts giggling uncontrollably. She decides to call Yukiko and tell her she’s found someone as hard headed as she is...


	2. Sisters from other misters

Sadayo Kawakami was hovering around her apartment nervously, making sure her apartment was clean enough so she could change out of her maid’s outfit. She didn’t know whether her sister in law was bringing her niece, so she had to change before he (potentially) showed up. It wasn’t until she actually finished the cleaning and that the doorbell rung, and she cursed her luck.

“Is Yuuta with you? I don’t think you told me!” She yelled through the side of the door at Eri.

“No, of course not. He’s with your brother.” Eri said calmly, “Why, is there something he couldn’t see?”

No one in her family knew of her former second job, and she did want to keep it that way, but if there was one person she trusted above all else with a secret, it was Eri. She hated gossip, couldn’t stand other mothers whose only entertainment was revealing secrets and tearing down others, so she merely opened the door a crack and welcomed her in.

Eri, for her credit, looked perfectly plussed and said, “Cute getup, sister. Why would you even consider putting that on if you didn’t know if Yuuta was coming or not?”

Sadayo’s ears reddened as she says, “I have a hard time getting the energy to clean… anything without this.” At Eri’s questioning gaze, she continues, “I was working a second job as a maid for a while, before someone helped me.”

Eri’s eyes widened, “This was about those parents, right? I remember you drinking too much one day and telling me about that.” They’d been almost instant friends, and hit it off immediately once they’d met. She liked Eri even more than her brother, who could be a little… flighty. He never stood still in one place, always going off for work in other cities and countries, and she warned Eri about that once they’d met. Unfortunately, her brother hadn’t left the country from when they started dating to getting married, so she merely laughed it off.

It was why his first wife had left, and she was real close to leaving herself (especially when Yuuta and her were on the outs) when she’d decided to stay, mysteriously citing Yuuta as the reason. In fact, once her brother got back, Eri was so persuasive that he cut down on his travel considerably. Now he was only out of the country on business for about a month each year, and they occasionally went with him when Yuuta was out of school.

They were actually leaving the next week to Taiwan, and Eri had called her up and asked her if she wanted to meet up at her place the weekend before. She agreed immediately and hung up without ever asking if Yuuta was coming.

“Yeah. They were demanding so much money from me, that I had to take on a second job to pay the bills. I could barely keep it together, and my teaching really suffered as a result. Luckily, they backed off…” She trailed off, unsure as to whether she wanted to discuss Akira with her, “Did you want some wine?”

Eri merely smiled happily and said, “I would love some, and I’m so happy it worked out so well for you. Did you have any new favorites from this year?” Eri was one of the few people in her life that was actually interested in her teaching, and she’d often asked Eri if she ever thought of being a teacher. She always shook her head, but she could tell she often thought about it.

“Yeah, actually.” She decided to just mention him here as she poured their wine, “This boy named Akira.” She tried to talk about him as if he were unimportant, “He actually came to Shujin because he was unfairly found guilty for assault, and Shujin was the only school that wanted him. I was pretty cold to him at first, but he… well, wormed his way to the top of my list in the end.” She smiled gentily, “Unfortunately, he had to go back to his small town once he was found innocent, but he’ll always been one of my favorites.”

(and in her heart, but she couldn’t really say THAT…)

Eri looked a little shocked and said, “Wow, you’re usually never that animated about your favorites, this boy must be something… special.”

\------

Eri stared at Sadayo’s oddly overstated demeanor, not really understanding where it came from. Whenever they hung out previously, Sadayo was usually pretty… cold was the wrong term, but cool. She usually didn’t get this effervescent until they’d been hanging for a while.

Or alcohol (it was usually alcohol).

But now, she hadn't really sunk into one of her silent spells. Not even on the way to the shrine they often went to when Eri was in the city. It was quite busy, as it was a weekend, and usually Sadayo didn't like the crowds. But she was weaving her way through like she was excited to do it, and she was still chipper. She actually thought it was because of that student.

"Hey, I was wondering... can you tell me more about Akira?" She asked innocently as they were weaving by people, "He sounded like he was pretty special."

Sadayo turned around and looked confused, "I guess, why would you say that though?"

"You never tell me their name, for one!" She said triumphantly, "I also have to work really hard for you to tell me, you usually say that teachers shouldn't have favorites."

"Well, I forgot. So what?" She waited at the entrance to the shrine and crossed her arms, "Just because you got it out of me quicker doesn't mean he's any more or less special than the other ones!"

"Why are you so defensive?" Eri touched Sadayo's hand in concern, "I'm just being curious, and it's not like you're betraying the others by having a favorite. You're a really good teacher, and just because you have a favorite doesn't mean you're treating the others like they're lesser than him."

Sadayo's face turned red and she smiled guiltily as she said, "We should find a spot away from anyone else. Right now..."

Sadayo grabbed her arm and started jogging to a semi empty spot, and she was getting even more concerned. Was there something amiss going on?

"Look." Sadayo said quietly as she glanced around, "The kid helped me with the whole parent situation, alright?"

"Wait, how could he do that?" Eri said with some concern, "Didn't you say that they were going to tell someone the instant they stopped getting the money? Was he giving you money or something?" She thought of another teenager, who seemed to have way more money than a high schooler should have...

"No... Okay, look. I don't want this to get out, but I do trust you more than anyone else." She leaned in close to Eri's ear and whispered, "He was a phantom thief."

"Oh my! How did you know?" Eri's eyes widened in surprise.

"As soon as I told him my problem... which took a lot of work, the parents literally contacted me out of the blue three days later and said they didn't need the money anymore. They said they were ashamed of themselves." Sadayo's hands twisted awkwardly, "Who else could do that? I heard plenty of stories of the phantom thieves saving people. Not just the victims of the people that got the calling cards, but others as well. So, I deduced he was the leader. In fact, I had another student who was a phantom thief as well." She grinned awkwardly.

"Ah." She was once again reminded of him, and she wondered if she should finally tell the story. Sadayo trusted her with this, she should obviously trust her sister.

"I actually had something similar happen to me once." She said awkwardly, the memories a little less vibrant now, "Me and Yuuta obviously couldn't really connect. I used to take him to a day care, and that's where I met Yu." She smiled in reminscence, "He was such a sweet boy. He took the time to hang out with me after work and help me with connecting with Yuuta. I don't know if you remember the strange fog in Inaba, but... It got much worse after he showed up, and it got much better a few months before he left. I can only imagine he and his friends did something similar to help, as none of the government officials took credit, and they'd obviously take credit if it was something THEY did."

Sadayo's eyes were watering as she told her story, and she sniffled, "God, what is with this country? Why do teenagers have to do all of the hard work saving it? Makes me feel like I should make sure my students do well, as they'll probably end up saving us from a nuclear war or something." She giggles.

"You know, what you keep telling me? I've been thinking of going into teaching for precisely that reason." She stared into the sky, "I feel like the kids of Japan are something great, and I want to help them fulfill their dreams and destinies. How should I start?"

Sadayo's eyes gleamed an excited gleam as she started explaining the various ways she could get into teaching, and she was excited to see her sister in law so full of life. She stopped suddenly, and got shifty eyed for a second before whispering something into her ear.

"I should probably mention that me and Akira were this close to getting into a relationship." She held her index and thumb together fairly closely, "Obviously I didn't, because I'm not a predator..."

"He turned you down, huh."

"yeah..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm also looking for ideas on the rest, I have vague ideas for most of them (hierophant will be SO FUN TO WRITE) but I'm always looking for suggestions! just comment if you have an idea :)


End file.
